Portable solar generators provide renewable energy for events

Saturday

Aug 31, 2013 at 8:00 AM

The small generators can easily supply enough electricity to play music or operate a PA system.

By Kate Elizabeth QueramKate.Queram@StarNewsOnline.com

Richard Groves is a musician and a full-time student at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., but you might say that his full-time ambition involves looking on the sunny side of life.Groves, 40, is the executive director of Clean Energy Events in Wilmington, a nonprofit company that provides electricity for events using only portable solar generators. The company, founded in January 2011, has powered about 50 concerts and competitions, including the Reef Sweetwater Pro-Am surfing contest at Wrightsville Beach and an upcoming Sunday Funday celebration, sponsored by the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. Equipment at those events ranges from speakers to PA systems and – most recently – a shirt-making apparatus."At our most recent surf contest, they had a couple of T-shirt presses that are probably around 1,800 watts – really high consumption," Groves said. "They drained the machines, but we were still able to keep it going."The company's portable generators were designed, built and patented by Mack Coyle, CEO of Wilmington-based Coyle Industries and a member of Clean Energy's board of directors. The machines can generate and store power at the same time, producing a maximum of 2.2 kilowatt hours per day with a storage capacity of 4.5 kilowatt hours – or enough to power a 100-watt light bulb for 45 hours straight. The panels are mounted on wheeled trailers for simple transport, can be tilted to follow the sun and are designed to be user-friendly, even for people with no prior knowledge of the technology, Coyle said."It arrives ready, and it's always on – there's no connection necessary," he said. "You don't have to understand how it works to use it. You just plug it in and it supplies electricity as you normally would."The small generators can easily supply enough electricity to play music or operate a PA system, but don't have the capacity to run larger-scale events. In the near future, Coyle hopes to change that with new equipment designed specifically for bigger venues."I intend to manufacture a portable power unit that arrives, folds out, becomes the main stage and also generates enough power to deliver what's referred to as house power," he said. "That would be enough to handle the lighting, vending and food power requirements, similar to what you'd find at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. That's really the benchmark we're aiming for now."Currently, Groves rents the generators from Coyle Industries and asks event planners for a suggested donation of $400 per machine. That money covers operation costs and helps fund a small scholarship for students in the sustainability technologies program at Cape Fear Community College, where Groves earned an associate degree."It pays the fees for students to take the entry-level photovoltaic certification exam," Groves said. "After they take that test, they can get employment with a solar installation company. The fees are $75 and we try to do two of them per year. Last year, we did three."The scholarship is part of the company's overall mission to promote the use of clean energy while educating as many people as possible about its benefits."We try to have educational material at most events, but we don't hand out information because a lot of times, that stuff ends up on the ground or in a trash can," Groves said. "We engage people and talk to them about the benefits of clean energy. The goal is to advocate renewable energy through public information and community interaction."